Hanger support



Dec. 13, 1949 G, H, CoNDlT 2,491,300

HANGER SUPPORT Filed June l1, 1947 xNvENToR.

BY XL/f TTORNEY.

Patented Dec. 13, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 9 Claims.

The present invention relates in general to s-upports for garment hangers and deals more particularly with devices suitable for use in garment cleaning establishments or the like to facilitate the inspection of garments.

It has been customary in the past to hang the garments to be inspected on conventional wire hangers which in turn are hooked over a horizontal rod supported at, say, or 6 feet above the floor. After examining one side of any particular garment the inspector has been obliged in many cases to lift the hanger from the rod, reverse it and hang it back on the rod in order to inspect the opposite side; in other cases the practice has been adopted of walking around the garment in order to examine both sides, or transferring each garment in turn to a swivel hook or ring which permitsit to rotate freely before the inspector.

All of these arrangements entail considerable physical elf ort, slowing down the inspectors work very materially and resulting in fatigue and inefciency. It is the primary object of the present invention to provide an improved arrangement whereby inspection of a series of garments may be effected speedily and eiiciently with a minimum of physical effort on the part of the inspector. More specifically, it is an object to provide a device which enables the inspector to see both sides of each garment without lifting the garment hanger and without moving away from an established inspection station. Another object is to provide an improved arrangement for sorting garments. A further object is to provide a devicewhereby hangers, hook-shaped at their upper ends, may easily and rapidly be transferred from one support to another.

Other and further objects of the invention will appear in the course of the following description of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings which form a part of the specification and are to be read in conjunction therewith and in which like reference numerals are employed to identify like parts of the various views,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of my garment inspection unit showing hangers supported thereon, the garments having been omitted from the hangers for convenience of illustration,

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the unit, and

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. 1 in the direction of the arrows.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, my inspection device comprises a substantially horizontal overhead slide and slick rod I0 taper- 55 2 ing at its end and terminating in a small hook I I, the tip of which is spaced laterally and slightly below the axis of the rod. Directly underneath the tip of hook II is a second substantially horizontal slide or slick rod I2; this tapers in the opposite direction toward an elbow and terminates in a laterally extending stub I3 which slopes slightly downward as bestI seen in Fig. 3.

The slick rods I0 and I2 are supported at intervals along their length by means of hangers I4 attached to and depending from the ceiling. Each of the latter hangers has its lower end portion bent to one side of the associated rod and thence upwardly into xed engagement with the bottom of the rod so as to provide clearance whereby the hooks I5 of the garment hangers I6 may slide freely along the rod. The overlapping ends of the two rodsare supported and maintained in predetermined spaced relationship by a c-ommon hanger I'I also depending from the ceiling; the lower portion of this hanger comprises a rigid strap Ila extending laterally over the top of both rods thence downwardly encircling the rods and back inwardly and upwardly into xed engagement with the bottom of the respective rods. Hangers I4 and Il maybe secured to the ceiling in any desired way, for instance by flanged caps I8 adapted to be screwed or bolted to the ceiling. They preferably are of such length that the horizontal slick rods are in the neighborhood of 6 feet from the floor.

In use, the garments to be inspected are hung side by side on rod I0 as indicated by the series of hangers in Fig. 1. Each garment in turn is advanced (see arrow I9) to a position where its hanger is approximately under member Ila and there the forward side of the garment is examined. Having done this the inspector givesthe garment a slight tug or twist which causes it to advance on around the hook-shaped end II of rod I0, as indicated by arrow 20. In sliding around this curved end the garment hanger turns through and drops onto rod II whereby the reverse side of the garment is before the inspector in convenient position to be examined.

At this point the sorting operation is performed. For example, if the garment is satisfactory it may be advanced along slick rod I2 in the direction indicated by arrow 2| while if it is unsatisfactory it may be pushed in the 0pposite direction (see arrow 22) whereupon it will slide down the inclined stub I3 and drop onto the inclined slick rod 23 therebelow. In either case the inspection station is cleared and ready to receive the next garment to be inspected which now will be advanced along rod l!! preparatory to repeating the above described operation.

The majority of the garments naturally will leave the inspection point along slick rod l2 in the direction of arrow 2l and, as to these, it will be observed that the iiow or movement of garments through the inspection point follows an essentially straight path. In other words, they enter the inspection point along a straight line, undergoeia reversal an'd'then leave the inspection point along a s-traight line which parallels and is very close to the rst line. The inspection station thus requires substantially no more floor space than is required for movement of the garments along a conventional slick rod having no facilities for reversing the garments.

Whereas garments satisfactorily ,passing inspection proceed in this straight-line fashion through the inspection point, those rejected leave the station along a path at right angles to the main-flow and thus are conveniently segregated. -If desired the auxiliary slick rod 23 may be fomitted in whichcase stub 13 should be provided with an upturned end 2li as shown in dotted lines thereby to retain the garments until they can I lbe disposed of.

From the foregoing it will be seen that this .invention is one well'adapted to attain all of the .ends and objects hereinbefore set forth together -with other advantages which are obvious and which are inherent to the apparatus. Specifically, a device is lprovided by means of which #the garments may be inspected and sorted effi- -ciently and rapidly without lifting the garment hangers from ltheir-support and without requiring the V,operator to walk-around the garments orptherwisemove away from an established in- Y spection station.

Inasmuch ascertain modications of the in- -vention `may be made without departing from .the scope thereof, Vit is to-be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accom- .panying drawings is to be interpreted as illustra- .tive Vand not in a limiting sense.

-It will be understood vthat certain features and A subcombinations are of utility and may be em- ,ployed without reference to other features and subcombinations. This is contemplated by and `is within the scope of -the claims.

ra second rod spaced below said tip in vertical Valignment therewith whereby said hangers are adaptedto slide around the bent end of said first `rod and drop onto said second rod.

2. uA device as in claim 1 wherein the end of ,said.rst rod tapers toward-said tip.

.3. A device as in `claim 1 wherein the tip of .saidfirst rod is below the level of the axis of .saidilrst rod.

4. A device as Ain .claim 1 having means for maintaining the end of said rst rod in predetermined spaced relationship to said second rod,

said means comprising a rigid strap extending across the top and around the outside of the two rods in spaced relationship thereto with its opposite ends turned inwardly and upwardly and being xedly connected to the under side of the respective rods.

5. A support for hangers having hooked-shape upper ends, comprising a pair of substantially parallel and horizontal rods extending toward a common transfer pointfrom opposite directions, the axis of one of saidrods being slightly higher than the axis of the other and being spaced laterally with respect to the axis of said other rod, said first rod terminating at said transfer point in-a reverse bend such that its tip is spaced above said second rod in vertical alignment therewith, whereby said hangers are adapted to slide along said rst rod toward said transfer point and there pass around the bend in its end and Lrop onto said second rod.

6. A support as in claim 5 wherein the-lateral spacing of the axes of said two rods is substantially equal to the span of the hook-shaped upperend of said hangers.

7. A support as in claim 5 having means at the transfer point for maintaining the end of said first rod in predetermined spaced relationship to said second rod, said means comprising a rigid strap extending across the top and 'around the outside of the two rods in spaced relationship thereto with its opposite ends turned inwardly and upwardly-and being fixedly connectedto the under side of the respective rods.

8. A support for hangers having hook-shaped upper ends, comprising a pair of substantially parallel and horizontal rods `extendingtcward a common transferpoint from opposite directions, the axis of one of said rods being slightly higher than the axis of the other and being spaced laterally with respect to the axis of saidother rod, said first rod terminating-at said transfer point in a reverse bend such that its tip is spaced above said second rod in vertical alignment therewith, whereby said hangers are adapted to slide .along said rst rod toward said transfer point and there pass around the bend in its end and .drop onto said second rod, said second rod having at said transfer point a right-angle bend vso thatone portion thereof extends laterally from REFERENCES CETED The following references are of record -in the le of this patent:

UNITED sTATEs PATENTS Number Name Date 2340*!,620 Vinsant Sept. 10, 1946 

